Meditation to relax? Nothing new. Creative visualization to help you achieve your goals faster? Everyone does it.
But did you know that many peak performance practices just like these can also be harnessed to heal the human mind and body of a surprising range of illnesses? And often... in just a few minutes a day.
Today - thanks to a growing body of doctors and healthcare professionals who now recognize the effectiveness of tools like meditation and visualization - approximately one third of Americans use some form of daily holistic practice to heal or complement the healing process.1
As for the remaining two thirds? We believe once they see the scientific proof, more and more people will begin looking inwards for their answer to holistic health of the mind and body.
1. MEDITATION
How It Heals You
Some healthcare professionals conclude that up to 98% of illnesses begin in the human mind.2 Meditation not only dissolves sources of stress and negativity in your mind, but also helps your subconscious mind release the habits, thoughts, beliefs and emotions that lead to poor lifestyle choices, while helping you to replace them with new empowering ones. The outcome of daily meditation is both spiritual and physical healing.
How We Know It Works
With over 1,500 peer-reviewed studies since the 1930s, meditation is one of the most extensively studied holistic practices on the planet.3 Since then, it has been proven to accelerate physical healing, improve sleep, decrease pain and anxiety, slow down aging, reduce the risk and symptoms of heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and a variety of chronic illnesses, and even positively alter your DNA, which boosts your immune system and makes you less prone to disease.4
2. VISUALIZATION
How It Heals You
Like meditation, visualization connects you to your subconscious mind; the main difference is in your level of proactiveness.5 In the context of holistic health, visualization requires you to actively picture specific imagery and scenarios typically involving a healthy body, or even your cells healing and regenerating. This, in turn, trains your mind to develop the thoughts, actions, habits and beliefs that will turn those visualizations into reality.
How We Know It Works
According to Neuroscientist Dr Joe Dispenza, the human mind cannot differentiate between thoughts and reality.6 This makes visualization a remarkably effective - and widely studied - tool in athletics, peak performance and healing. For instance, a 2008 study of breast cancer survivors found that those who used visualization were significantly less likely to experience recurrence of cancer, while a 2007 study found that gallbladder removal patients who used visualization experienced significantly faster healing compared to those who didn't.7
3. AFFIRMATIONS
How It Heals You
Affirmations program your subconscious mind in a similar way to meditation and visualization - except their main focus is on the written or spoken repetition of positive statements that facilitate a desired outcome - which in this case is healing.
How We Know It Works
Affirmations are proven to affect the brain on a cellular level. For instance, a 2015 brain imaging study published in Social Cognitive And Affective Neuroscience8 found that people who use affirmations enjoy a variety of neurological benefits - including a deeper sense of satisfaction, which encourages repetition of healthy habits, and a greater sense of self-worth.
4. CHAKRA HEALING
How It Heals You
According to Eastern medicine, there are seven energy centers, or 'Chakras' in the human body, extending from the tip of the head to the base of the spine.9 Each of these Chakras influences a certain aspect of your life; and just one blocked Chakra is enough to cause illness, stress and other health challenges. Chakra Healing, which combines a variety of energy healing modalities like meditation and yoga, is the solution to unblocking and energizing your Chakras, and returning you to your natural state of health.
How We Know It Works
A number of studies suggest the authenticity of the Chakras and their effect on the human body. One example is University of California Professor Dr. Valerie V. Hunt's experiments with an electro-myograth device, which found radiation in the human body from the sites associated with the Chakras. In addition, an experiment by Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama found an intensification of measurable activity in the energetic centers of a Chakra Healing practitioner, as compared to a normal person who did no Chakra work.10
5. EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TECHNIQUES
How It Heals You
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), also known as 'Tapping', involves physically tapping acupressure points across the human body, while reciting specific positive statements similar to affirmations. This practice is said to unblock these pressure points, which facilitates healing and relief from pain, anxiety and limiting beliefs that cause illness.
How We Know It Works
Even though EFT is one of the least researched modalities on this list - in part due to its relative infancy as a holistic healing technique - what we do know is promising. A number of studies have found EFT to be effective in reducing traumatic memories, alleviating depression, reducing pain, assisting weight loss, and even in overcoming post-traumatic stress disorder.11
6. MIND MOVIES
How It Heals You
Mind Movies is our proprietary in-house technology. A Mind Movie is a 3-minute video that combines visualization, affirmations and multimedia technology to reprogram your subconscious mind for any desired outcome - including healing. With our easy-to-use Mind Movies Creation Kit, you can even create your own Mind Movies, laced with your own positive statements, images and videos to help you achieve your personal goals.
How We Know It Works
Mind Movies harnesses the best elements of today's most scientifically proven modalities, and harmonizes them into a technology greater than the sum of its parts. Apart from the countless studies validating visualization and affirmations, Mind Movies are backed by the positive experiences of over 2.1 million users worldwide.
*****
Did you know there are 3 subconscious weight loss saboteurs that can cause you to fail at every diet and fitness plan you try, year in and year out?
If you’re tired of not knowing what’s standing between you and achieving your weight loss goals, then take this free 30 second quiz to discover the reason now!
*****
References:
1 https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/meditation-modern-life/201208/more-doctors-are-prescribing-meditation
4 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elaine-gavalas/yoga-and-meditation-can-p_b_8059210.html
6 http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/67071-can-the-mind-affect-reality
7 http://drdavidhamilton.com/think-yourself-well-scientific-evidence-for-the-power-of-visualisation/
8 http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/11/why-self-affirmation-works.html
9 http://www.chopra.com/articles/what-is-a-chakra
10 http://www.universal-mind.org/Chakra_pages/ProofOfExistence.htm
11 http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/12/26/emotional-freedom-technique.aspx
*****
What's your favorite mind-body healing practice? Share your experience with the community below:
